Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Oct. 22
that Moscow finds it unacceptable that the US warned criminal
charges will be brought against Russian diplomats if they appear at
polling stations to observe the US election process on Nov. 8.
Moscow chose to conduct the observations independently - not with
the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)
mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
- because it does not fully accept the ODIHR methodology and
criteria used for election assessment. Besides, that would involve
additional restrictions on visiting polling stations in some
states.

The idea to send a delegation of observers to the US has been
rejected by the State Department.

According to State Department spokesman Mark Toner, the effort
to send in diplomats was a "PR stunt."

Three states - Oklahoma, Louisiana and Texas - have even
threatened to bring criminal charges against the diplomats if they
appear at ballot stations.

By contrast, Russia sent personal invitations to US monitors
asking them to observe the September parliamentary elections [see
Current
Digest, Vol. 68, No. 38, pp. 7 - 10], and 63 accepted the
offer. In total, 774 monitors from 63 nations received
accreditation to observe Russia’s parliamentary elections. In
addition, US representatives visited Russia earlier as part of an
OSCE/ODIHR monitoring mission.

Republican candidate Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that
the election is being "rigged," which Republican officials have
disputed. "I’m telling you, Nov. 8, we’d better be careful, because
that election is going ...

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